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Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Bills Introduced – 03-05-13

We are starting to see the spending bills that would provide
for keeping the government in operation for the remainder of the fiscal year.
Two were introduced yesterday:

S 444 Latest
Title: A bill making appropriations for the Department of Defense for the
fiscal year ending September 30, 2013, and for other purposes. Sponsor: Sen
Collins, Susan M. (R,ME)

HR 933 Latest
Title: Making appropriations for the Department of Defense, the Department
of Veterans Affairs, and other departments and agencies for the fiscal year
ending September 30, 2013, and for other purposes. Sponsor: Rep
Rogers, Harold (R,KY)

These first two bills start with DOD spending. Presumably S
444 will be similar to HR 993 (that
I briefly covered last night) in that it will adjust the DOD spending base
so that the sequestration won’t be quite so painful. It is not yet clear that S
444 will also be the Senate vehicle for the FY 2013 CR for the remainder of the
government.

It is odd that Sen. Collins is the sponsor for S 444 since
she is not the ranking member on the Senate Appropriations Committee. She is,
however, a well-known consensus builder, so that could be the reason she was
chosen to be the author of this bill.

NOTE: S 444 will never actually make it to the House. All
spending bills must ‘originate’ in the House. It could be voted upon in the
Senate at some point and then the language substituted into a House originated
bill like HR 933.

About Me

I spent 15 years in the US Army as an Infantry NCO. After getting out of the Army I started working in the chemical industry, getting my BSc Chemistry degree while working as a technician. I spent 12 years working as a process chemist in a specialty chemical company. Most recently I worked as a QA/R&D Manager in a specialty chemical manufacturing facility. Currently I am working as a freelance writer.